Yet despite the bacchanalian context, this Sims-style strategy game comes off as cold and mechanical, capturing none of the devil-may-care attitude you'd expect and casting Hef's idyllic lifestyle as a hollow grind established purely for the sake of selling more magazines.

Victorious Boxers isn't awful, but it's hampered by a lousy control scheme. Sure, you can play it with a standard controller to make the action a little smoother, but even then it's just an average experience.

MX vs. ATV Untamed promises dirty thrills but winds up delivering only a smudgy shrug.

Dynasty Warriors 6 plays it safe with the series' standard button-mashing formula, and as such is little more than a prettier version of every other game in the series.

I'm not quite as warm to it as I was before, but it's an eerie experience that's seeped into my real life.

A passable but unexciting racing game that substitutes the finesse of the other Tony Hawk games for simple and scattered action.

Hanging 10 in this movie-licensed surfing game has its moments--just don't expect to enjoy it for very long.

If you have the patience to learn the subtleties of sled-track design, there is a lot of value in this little package.

Soltrio Solitaire is a solitaire game that costs $10. Yes, solitaire. You know, that game that comes free with every Windows PC ever made? The single-player card game that is so easy to obtain for free on the Internet that it might as well be falling out of the sky? Right. This is that, except it's on Xbox Live Arcade, and it's 10 bucks. Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

Yes, Minecraft Story Mode Episode Two is another brief adventure, but it's an entirely compelling one throughout.

Murdered: Soul Suspect is as troubled as its protagonist. There are so many problems--from the presentation to the story and even technical hiccups--that I was continually pulled out of the experience. And yet, I continued on, and I'm glad that I wasn't overwhelmed by those missteps.

A counterintuitive control scheme, oddly balanced difficulty, obnoxiously repetitive combat, and a nearly useless camera in co-op mode. Eventually such problems become too numerous and too annoying to tolerate, turning what could have been a simple monster-killing romp into a scattered, clumsy mess.

Sega is gunning for the Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh! set with Amazing Island, but the game lacks the gameplay depth that makes Pokemon a guilty pleasure for older gamers and the strong branding that makes Yu-Gi-Oh! so ubiquitous with the lunchbox-and-backpack crowd.

While the gameplay is on par with the original versions of the games, the original versions managed to look and sound a bit better than Midway's N64 renditions.

Dull platforming and button-mashing action make Blade Kitten a disappointing first game for its cute-as-a-cat heroine.

Despite the addition of several previously missing modes, NBA Live 07's many gameplay flaws and uneven visuals relegate the series to the bench for yet another year.

Flush the Goldfish's fun premise is washed away by its fishy execution.

Some flashy action, a playful sense of humor, and a clean visual style bring this otherwise straightforward beat-'em-up to life.

GEON is a simple puzzle game that's more generic than its title would lead you to believe.

It feels like one of those uninspired also-rans cribbed from "The Fast and the Furious" in the first place. It's not an entirely bad street racer, but it does nothing new, and it makes pretty lousy use of the license.

This top-down shooter with no shooting in it might just break your wrist.

Lucius has an intriguing premise, but some not-so-original adventure-game flaws.

A game with really high highs and really low lows. Ocean Descent and The London Heist are great introductory VR experiences that I think everyone should try, whether they're into games or not. Their biggest downfall is that they're both really short. Scavenger Odyssey, on the other hand, just made me motion sick. Overall, its a collection of novel but insubstantial tech demos.

Frankly, Redemption just isn't a very interesting game, from any angle.

This flawed horror adventure gets the atmosphere right, though it isn't as sharp as it could have been.

Mage Knight DS is based on some good design ideas derived from an interesting tabletop wargame, but they're drowned out by a poor interface and weak presentation.

Lackluster gameplay makes this a disappointing conclusion to the Legend of Spyro series.

A stripped-down game with poor graphics, poor sound, and a clunky control scheme.

After only a few minutes with it, you'll quickly notice that it not only has poor control, repetitive sounds, and bland graphics, but also blatantly rips off the overall structure and visual stylings of "Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec."

It's also, inexplicably, the most popular online role-playing game in the world...It looks old, it plays poorly, and its opening levels are so frustrating that there's a good chance you'll never make it to the interesting stuff.

The real-time strategy genre currently has many excellent games available to satisfy a lot of specific kinds of preferences. With so many games to choose from, it makes little sense to revisit three-year-old concepts.

Die-hard real-time strategy fans may find something to like in Kingdom Under Fire, but everyone else might as well keep waiting for Blizzard's next big hit.

Being a gladiator in ancient Rome probably wasn't much fun, and it's not much fun in this repetitive fighting game, either.

There's plenty to do in SX Superstar, but the problems lie in the gameplay mechanics--such as the trick system and camera--which could've used a little more tweaking.

A standard pool game with overly simplified control and fewer game modes than most other pool games on the market. Maximum Pool's only saving grace is its online play.

While Invasion includes online multiplayer capability, a feature not included in the original, the game's single-player campaign still suffers from the same bland gameplay and mission design that plagued its predecessor.

A sleek-looking game of racing and vehicular combat with an intriguing boost mechanic, but there's not much happening under the hood.

This is a lovely, gossamer experience that lifts you into the clouds and then quietly brings you back to earth, happy for the time spent, and your mind free of the detritus that originally cluttered it.

Ironically, the most fun part of the DLC is a quest to fill a special urn, purchased from weekend vendor Xur. It's a five-step quest in the vein of the Exotic Bounties, with a nice, varied set of objectives and no level requirements.

VoidExpanse is toothless in general, lacking the mystery and suspense that could have propelled it through the universe.

In Harvest Hunt, the stakes are real, but the scares aren't. There is tension in the game, but it doesn't rise to the heights it wants to due to a central villain who can't pull their weight. That places a figurative ceiling over its best moments, but it does have bright spots. I appreciate its rustic, askew art style and interlocking roguelite systems, which give me an objective worth hunting down in a folk-horror world that at least looks, and in some ways, plays, the part.

It nails some of the key points of the drift-racing genre, but Tokyo Xtreme Racer DRIFT lacks practically every other component needed to make an exciting racing game.

Too much formula and too little imagination make Arkadian Warriors rigid and dull.

In the end, SlugFest's budget price certainly helps it, but it doesn't save it. Too many facets of the game feel completely phoned-in to make this a worthwhile purchase, even at $20. It's really too bad that this quality baseball series couldn't go out in a classier fashion.

Driver: Parallel Lines is a mediocre GTA clone with a dull storyline, second-rate gameplay, and subpar control.

Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the execution. It's a co-op game that works best with no one talking; it buries genuinely interesting character moments and puts its most incomprehensible story bits at the forefront; its combat is exciting until you get to the boss fights and find your wings have been clipped. Even the simple, exhilarating act of flying is frequently interrupted by the limitations of your javelin, and you never quite shake that feeling of disappointment--of knowing, throughout the good parts of Anthem, that you'll inevitably come crashing back down.

Its originality, however, is offset by a sometimes lackluster presentation and the occasionally repetitive nature of its gameplay.

Despite the fact that Krome Studios was able to translate the story, look, and feel of the film well enough into its offering, the gameplay is simply too lifeless and frustrating to hold your attention the entire way through.

The single-player mode is plain and simple, and the multiplayer mode, once you get over the novelty of shooting people over the Internet, really lacks depth.

A short and shallow shooter that fails to deliver on the potential of its beloved license.

It's all dime-store philosophy, but it's still a philosophy, and I credit Journal for a valiant attempt to say something, even if the message comes out tangled up in the end.

It may sport a literary pedigree, but 80 Days is little more than a clunky adventure game with a bad sense of humor and lots of bugs.

A platform-style puzzler that's clearly aimed toward a young audience. Older players will laugh (at least, they ought to) at the game's simplistic controls, straightforward puzzles, and rudimentary graphics.

Time Crisis: Razing Storm can be fun when it sticks to its arcade roots, but everything else in this shooter package misses the target completely.

This tedious underwater adventure is as short on content as it is on thrills.

At World's End's slick visuals don't make up for the dull, repetitive combat and uninspired mission structure.

Blacklight: Retribution has its fun moments to balance out the frustrating ones. But with a few unpleasant quirks, some missing features, and a borderline draconian pricing model, it's hardly a must-have shooter for kicking off the new wave of current-gen gaming.

This is one of those friendly games that just about anyone would enjoy picking up for short play sessions every now and again, especially those who like their dungeon crawlers tinged with a sense of humor and a retro flavor.

While Black Sigil comes with all the basic trappings of a traditional RPG, it’s too frustrating and unoriginal to stand out.

Mega Man Star Force 3 is another disappointing installment in a tired franchise in need of a reboot.

The simplistic gameplay and the lack of both difficulty and any real pressing motivation to complete the game severely limit any appeal.

The flawed, nihilistic, trap-building simulator that resulted isn't worth a look. In the whole of the game, only one metaphor hit home for me. Sometimes when you manage to reach another person's vault, you find it empty, pillaged by a previous robber. There's nothing to take away, and all the time and effort you've put into the endeavor has been wasted.

Battle of the Band's bizarre mashups are fun to listen to but not as much fun to play.

A host of problems can be found in almost all facets of the game, so there simply aren't any good reasons to buy it, especially with better alternatives already available.

Though the game features some competent gameplay mechanics and attractive graphics, the extremely short campaign mimics the film's brief theatrical run a little too well, as it's gone almost before it starts.

Realistic animations can only hide the sloppy foundation of this football game for so long.

Though based on a great series of innovative tactical action/puzzle games, Commandos Strike Force comes off as just another middling World War II shooter, despite some good ideas.

A once-great helicopter combat sim is still pretty good, if you don't mind the déjà vu.

God Mode may not be divine, but it delivers buckets of flawed fun for a few hours.

Curious George may be squarely aimed at a younger audience, but even they will likely tire of its overly repetitive minigames and extremely simplistic platforming.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness' payoff was not worth the time I put into it. The story feels bloated and empty, with no worthwhile emotional payoff in character development or narrative. Combat and its subsequent upgrade systems are genuinely fun, but the overall experience is held back from being great by issues elsewhere.

Dogged by a number of graphical issues that often interfere with gameplay.

The storytelling is so incompetent that it eventually becomes sort of charming. However, the same can't be said for the control problems and general lack of technical polish.

The game's story isn't strong enough to stand on its own, and the gameplay simply doesn't save it, making the game worth a look for hard-core fans of The Matrix films, but a buggy disappointment for just about anyone else.

It's true that the game has some real strengths, too, but the lousy voice-overs, clumsy writing, and glacial pace make it too hard to appreciate them most of the time.

Tries its best to be the next Punch-Out!!, but it falls well short of the mark.

Despite its originality and charm, Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter is a mediocre platforming game.

Way of the Samurai 4 isn't the prettiest package, but for those with a taste for weirdness and a measure of patience, it's a gift that keeps on giving.

Gas Guzzlers does some things right, but the whole deal ends up feeling decidedly under par. Graphics are only fair, music is canned and looped, and the voice samples are poor. But beyond its mediocre production values is a wobbly foundation, and that's ultimately Gas Guzzlers' insurmountable flaw.

An awkward interface and visual problems take the shine off of this well-intentioned D&D role-playing game.

Silent Hill: Book of Memories falls short as both a dungeon-crawler and a horror game.

Beijing 2008 proves beyond a doubt that rapidly pushing buttons is not fun.

TRON: Evolution mixes free-running platforming with simple but engaging combat and is a fun if slightly repetitive trip back into the digital world of the Grid.

Considered as a whole, Ultra Smash does just enough to get by. At moments it shines and at others it frustrates, but mostly it just coasts.

Skull and Bones has its moments, but these brief snapshots don't encompass even half of the full experience. Everything that was great about Black Flag has been ripped out to accommodate tedious live-service elements and a half-baked multiplayer that makes you feel disconnected from other players. Some of its more egregious issues will hopefully be fixed in future updates, but it would still take an entire overhaul to salvage the game's core mechanics and overreliance on banal, repetitive activities. It's disappointing that this is the outcome after an 11-year wait, but Skull and Bones is teetering on the edge of confinement in Davy Jones's Locker.

Blowing stuff up is the only enjoyable part of Front Mission Evolved, a mediocre third-person shooter featuring giant mechs.

Eagle Eye Golf is a lot like "Hot Shots Golf," but not as good.

Easy to learn, easy to play, and easy to afford, Ford Mustang: The Legend Lives is a barely tolerable, exceedingly temporary fix for the financially restricted racing beginner.

High-impact action and lively animation save this brawler from mediocrity.

APB delivers periodic awesomeness, but fundamental imbalances and repetitive objectives make this persistent-world shooter a tough sell.

Despite the license and some interesting gameplay modes, Ford Racing 3 comes off feeling generic and far less distinct than the real-life vehicles the game attempts to capture.

It's not complicated or sexy, and, in fact, the N64 game isn't all that attractive or well designed. But it is possible to have fun with it. If you are a fan of the Pixar films, the game struggles to deliver the same experience in video-game format - largely due to the missing fmv cutscenes.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time tells an enjoyably absurd time-hopping tale, but stepping into the tights of its two heroes doesn't feel as empowering as it should.

Despite feeling a little irrelevant in 2007, Jackass: The Game does a decent job of capturing the feel of the show.

A game that woefully undercooks its concept, a partial success in that nothing that the game does is particularly bad, but for a concept that has always felt like a no-brainer, “why didn't somebody think of that before” situation, the fact that it doesn't do some fairly obviously things to make the game earn its price tag is disheartening.

Blowing stuff up is the only enjoyable part of Front Mission Evolved, a mediocre third-person shooter featuring giant mechs.

Tomb Raider: Legend offers a good mix of gunplay and puzzles; it also shows off the system's 3D capabilities.

After you play Taz Wanted and struggle with its terrible camera angles and repetitive tasks, you'll probably agree that all the authentic cartoon characters in the world couldn't make this game fun.